Policy Issue Focus of Romney Campaign
Chart shows message distribution of Romney campaign (excluding Campaign messaging) from Mar 20-Apr 10
In the past month, the Romney campaign has discussed the Economy 33% of the time when discussing policy issues. Romney’s campaign is trying to make the case that his experience in the private sector gives him a greater ability to improve the U.S. economy than Barack Obama. Despite Romney’s efforts to focus the discussion on this topic, over 50% of the discussion among those outside the campaign trenches in the past month has been on Social Issues and Healthcare.
Policy Issue Focus of All Other Sources
Shows message distribution of sources outside of Romney's campaign from Mar 20-Apr 10
The recent back and forth on “war on women” is a good microcosm. In the battle to define the issue agenda, what starts as a healthcare and Social issue is responded to by Romney’s camp as an Economic issue. While Obama criticizes Romney and Republicans for the “war on women” in the context of female contraception and healthcare, Romney retaliates by saying that Obama’s failure to improve the economy has cost many women their jobs. And as noted in another post, another interesting side story is that White House officials have gotten out front on Social issues.
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